Shining Path newlyweds may qualify for conjugal visits

Abimael Guzman, the imprisoned leader of the bloody Shining Path insurgency, and his new wife, Elena Iparraguirre, may be able to have conjugal visits, daily El Comercio reported the president of Peru’s judicial branch, Javier Villa, as saying.

Visits between Guzman and Iparraguirre “will depend on various factors,” Villa said, adding: “the wedding responds to a humanitarian right.” Read more…

Lori Berenson interview with Peruvian Times

Lori Berenson met Monday, Aug. 16, 2010, with Peruvian Times Managing Editor Rick Vecchio and veteran freelance journalist Lucien Chauvin.

The meeting came two hours after Berenson had spoken before a judicial tribunal deciding whether to rescind her parole, threatening to send her back to prison to serve out the remaining five years of a 20-year sentence for  collaboration with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.

For more than an hour Berenson answered questions in English and Spanish, on the condition that her statements would remain Off The Record until and if she was ordered  to return to prison. That order came two days later.

Here is the seven-part interview in English.

American activist Lori Berenson ordered back to Peruvian prison

Parole for American activist Lori Berenson was rescinded Wednesday and an order issued for her immediate capture to be returned to prison, Vice Justice Minister Luis Marill del Águila announced.

An appeals court ruled in favor of Peruvian prosecutors that penitentiary officials miscalculated the time served on her 20-year sentence for collaborating with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). Her parole paperwork also failed to correctly list the address of the upscale Miraflores apartment where she planned to reside.

U.S. Embassy spokesman James Fennell released a statement that Berenson was at the U.S. Consul for a pre-arranged meeting when she received word that her parole had been rescinded.

“It was the decision of Lori Berenson to comply with the judicial order and turn herself in immediately,” Fennell said. “With Ms. Berenson’s consent, she was retrieved by the Peruvian police.”

Berenson was conditionally released in May after serving nearly 15 years. Peru’s state attorney for counter-terrorism, Julio Galindo, told cable news station Canal N  on Wednesday that Berenson’s parole had not been revoked, but rather nullified. Once she has completed 15 years in prison in November she can apply for parole again, he said.

Berenson appeared in court Monday and apologized for her past crimes and asked the judges to let her remain free on parole, saying she poses no threat Peruvian society and that her overriding focus now is to raise her 15-month-old baby boy, Salvador, who was born behind bars.

“I was sentenced for the crime of collaboration with terrorism, and I did collaborate with the MRTA.  I have never been a leader, nor a militant. I have never participated in acts of violence nor of bloodshed, nor have I killed anyone,” she said.

“I am now a 40-year-old woman. I left home when I was young,” she continued. “But I have a family who have sacrificed everything for me, and I would like to pay them back somehow. And more than that, I have a child, a 15-month-old son and he is a child I would like to be close to, like any mother. I would like to bring up my son to be a good man.  That is now my objective.”

Berenson was arrested on a public bus in downtown Lima on November 30, 1995, along with the wife of a top MRTA leader. She was charged with helping plan a thwarted takeover of Peru’s Congress and sentenced to life by a secret military court for “treason against the fatherland.” But that conviction was vacated in 2000 and she was retried and convicted the following year by a civilian court.

Justice Ministry to post human rights court case info on its Web site

While Peru contemplates partially rejecting the authority of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Ministry of Justice has decided to shine a little transparency on the issue by publishing on its website information about human rights cases filed against the country. Read more…

American woman apologizes for collaborating with Peruvian Marxist rebel group

American activist Lori Berenson apologized Monday for collaborating with Marxist rebels and asked an appeals court to let her remain free on parole to rejoin society, make amends to her family and raise her baby.

The native New Yorker, now 40 years old with a 15-month-old boy, insisted that depictions of her as a violent terrorist are untrue, saying repeatedly, “I do not represent a danger to anyone.”

“I have come today because I know that my liberty is at stake,” Berenson told the court. “I was in prison for almost 15 years. I have reflected a great deal over it, and I understand that society was harmed by violence. I understand it and I regret that I participated in it.”

Berenson was conditionally released in May after serving nearly 15 years of a 20-year sentence for collaborating with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). But prosecutors and Peru’s state attorney for counter-terrorism, Julio Galindo, appealed her parole.

Galindo depicted Berenson Monday as a calculating, unrepentant political extremist who continues to pose a threat to the Peruvian public.

“What is concrete and what is real is that Señora Berenson was not a sympathizer of the MRTA. She is an active participant,” Galindo said.

Berenson, who was specifically acquitted in her 2001 civilian retrial of being an active militant in the MRTA, responded directly to Galindo’s allegation.

“I was sentenced for the crime of collaboration with terrorism, and I did collaborate with the MRTA,” Berenson said. “I have never been a leader, nor a militant. I have never participated in acts of violence nor of bloodshed, nor have I killed anyone.”

She said her perspective had changed during her years in prison and that her overriding concern now is to get on with a productive life in society and to raise her son, Salvador, who was born behind bars.

“I have a family who have sacrificed everything for me, and I would like to pay them back somehow,” she said. “And more than that, I have a child, a 15-month-old son and he is a child I would like to be close to, like any mother. I would like to bring up my son to be a good man.  That is now my objective.”

Berenson’s release was based on a legislative decree passed in 2003 during the administration of former President Alejandro Toledo. The decree allowed inmates who were charged with terrorism to gain conditional parole after completing three-quarters of their sentence. The law was rescinded last year, but not before Berenson had put in her application for early release.

Galindo argued Monday that Berenson was a few months short of completing the three-quarters of her sentence, which made her parole premature and illegal.

When asked by the court tribunal whether counter terrorism police had been keeping tabs on Berenson’s whereabouts since her release, Galindo apologized to the judges, saying he could not because it was a matter of police “intelligence” and that he was not entirely privy to the details.

“For obvious reasons, since that is a job of intelligence, I could not at this time say how this job has been carried out,” Galindo said. “That they have done so, yes, the intelligence tasks have been carried out.”

Berenson’s attorney, Anibal Apari, who is also the father of her son, interjected that the police, together with the Attorney General Office, have “carried out three visits to the domicile” where Berenson has been living with her parents and baby. He also countered Galindo’s main argument, saying the way Berenson’s time served was calculated had been entirely legal and within the bounds of established jurisprudence.

A former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, Berenson was arrested on a public bus in downtown Lima on November 30, 1995, along with the wife of a top MRTA leader. She was charged with helping plan a thwarted takeover of Peru’s Congress and sentenced to life by a secret military court for “treason against the fatherland.” But that conviction was vacated in 2000 and she was retried and convicted the following year by a civilian court.

Berenson and Panamanian painter Pacífico Castrellón — a key prosecution witness against her — rented the four- story house that the MRTA rebels used as their secret base to store a huge arsenal of weapons and house 20 guerrillas.

Justice Minister Victor Garcia Toma previously said he did not view Berenson as a threat to society. He recommended that the remaining five years of her sentence be commuted, which would allow her to return the United States with her baby.

But President Alan Garcia’s administration chose to wait through the appeals process.

But García decided Berenson’s case is “not a priority.” He told reporters on Monday that his government had been wise not to rush into commuting Berenson’s sentence until the appeals court determines whether her parole had been carried out correctly or that she must return to prison.

The court is expected to issue its ruling within 15 days.

Lori Berenson’s Full Statement to Court:

Thank you.  Mr. President, Madame Magistrates, Mr. Prosecutor. I have come today because I know that my liberty is at stake.

I have heard in the press, particularly from the state attorney, the issue that I am a danger to society. And although oratory is not exactly my strongpoint, I am going to try to explain why I believe that I am not (a danger).

In the first place, just to clarify an incident that the prosecutor has just mentioned.  I was sentenced for the crime of collaboration with terrorism, and I did collaborate with the MRTA.  I have never been a leader, nor a militant. I have never participated in acts of violence nor of bloodshed, nor have I killed anyone.

And what I would like to clarify here is that I know that my mere participation, even though it was secondary in one incident, if it contributed to the violence in society, I am deeply sorry and I regret it. If my coming to Peru has meant harm to the country, I am sorry and I regret it. If there are people who feel affected by my words or by my acts, I ask their forgiveness.  It is the only thing that I can say.

I was in prison for almost 15 years. I have reflected a great deal over it, and I understand that violence did harm to society; I understand it and I regret that I participated in it.

I believe that things, a better society, are achieved by building and not by destroying.  It is built by living together peacefully and that is what I have been doing. My behavior in prison has been very good; I can say there were no problems. In fact, in jail one learns better about coexisting than here outside.  But it is in jail, where the space is so very small, that you necessarily have to coexist with different ideas, with different everything.

As a result, one learns to reach a consensus and, in fact, it is something that serves very well to live in society.

Also, I have a different vision of life.  It has been almost 15 years. I am now a 40-year-old woman. I left home when I was young. But I have a family who have sacrificed everything for me, and I would like to pay them back somehow. And more than that, I have a child, a 15-month-old son and he is a child I would like to be close to, like any mother. I would like to bring up my son to be a good man.  That is now my objective.

And during the time I have been out of prison, I have shown that that is how I spend my time. I am working for that, I have a child I must bring up.

I need to live and that is what I am doing. I work. I am studying. I am trying to live like a normal person with my family, my parents, with my son, with the godmother of my child. That is what I am doing.

Therefore, I would like to suggest that, at least from my own point of view, I do not pose a danger to anyone.

I lament the repercussion that my release has had in society, although this has always been a very sensational case, from the time I was first detained. But the reality is that, although it hurts me, I do accept it. I take responsibility that there is a sense of rejection towards me. I understand. But according to the law, according to my behavior, I do not pose a threat to anyone.

I hope that the court will make its decision according to the law, and I trust it will be so.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.

Peru’s foreign affairs minister meets with Unasur to discuss Colombia, Venezuela row

Peru’s Foreign Affairs minister, José Antonio García Belaunde, met his counterparts from the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, to seek a solution to the diplomatic row between Colombia and Venezuela, state news agency Andina reported.

Colombia’s minister of Foreign Affairs, Jaime Bermudez, and his colleague from Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, were to present their arguments about the conflict during a closed door meeting at Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters. Read more…

Peru purchases 8 helicopters from Russia for use in the VRAE

Peru’s government has purchased eight Russian helicopters to be used for to combat drug traffickers in the country’s Apurimac and Ene River Valleys (VRAE), daily La República reported.

The purchase includes two MI-35P helicopters and six MI-171Sh helicopters, which will be acquired in January 2011 and May 2011, respectively. Read more…

Peru’s gov’t calls on Colombia, Venezuela to resume dialogue

Peru’s government has called on Colombia and Venezuela to open up dialogue after President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela severed diplomatic ties with Colombia, state news agency Andina reported.

“We appeal for the two brotherly countries to recuperate the level of dialogue and understanding that they should have,” Peru’s Foreign Affairs Minister José Antonio García Belaunde was quoted as saying. Read more…

U.S. State Department offers reward for Shining Path leaders

The United States Department of State has placed the leaders of two Shining Path factions on its narcotics rewards program, which offers compensation of $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the targets.

The announcement comes only weeks after a UN Office on Drug Control and Crime (UNODC) report, questioned by the Peruvian government,  indicated that Peru’s coca production increased 6.8% in 2009 to overtake Colombia’s production.   Read more…

Guilt, repentance and innocence: Lori Berenson and her baby might be going back to prison

Editorial By Rick Vecchio
Peruvian Times Editor ~

Lori Berenson could be going back to prison with her baby if a state prosecutor has her way.  The New Yorker, now 40 years old with a 14-month-old baby boy, was released in May after serving nearly 15 years of a 20-year sentence for collaborating with a Marxist guerrilla group.  But political forces threaten a short-lived liberty.

The appeal seeking to rescind Berenson’s parole filed by Prosecutor Edith Chamorro together with the public advocate against terrorism for the Interior Ministry was taken up last Wednesday by a three-judge panel.

This legal development occurred with hardly a mention in English language media.  But several Peruvian news outlets — right-wing daily newspaper Expreso in particular — have dedicated nearly daily coverage to Berenson’s release,  depicting her as unrepentant for her crimes and a continuing threat to Peruvian society.

Berenson and her family had hoped President Alan García would commute the remaining five years of her sentence, allowing her and her baby to return to the United States. The day of her release, Berenson sent a hand-written petition to the Pardons Commission, accepting her guilty verdict and asking to be allowed to leave the country with her son.

“I assume my criminal responsibility for terrorist collaboration,” she wrote in the May 28 letter. “I would also like to say that I very much regret the harm I have caused Peruvian society, and I ask forgiveness from people who have been affected by my actions or words.”

The day the letter was delivered, Cabinet Chief Javier Velásquez said that Peru’s executive would  examine whether to commute her sentence. A few days later, Justice Minister Victor Garcia recommended that President García grant the pardon to permit Berenson to be expelled from Peru in light of strong public opposition to her release.

But García’s administration has decided Berenson’s case is “not a priority.”

In the meantime, Berenson’s iconic image as a symbol of the political violence that plagued Peru is coming back in full force.  This comes ahead of next year’s presidential elections, replete with recriminations, finger pointing and defensive denials over who is responsible for letting the dangerous terrorist Berenson loose on Peruvian society.

Thus the political backdrop to Lori Berenson’s latest legal woes. But there is an element missing in the equation — her son. If the judges rule to put  Berenson back in prison for five more years, they will not be imposing sentence on her (Berenson has already been sentenced) but on her baby. His fate would be to either live in an overcrowded cell to the maximum age of 3 and then be deprived of his mother, or lose his mother now.

A former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, Berenson was arrested on a public bus in downtown Lima on November 30, 1995, and charged with helping plan a thwarted takeover of Peru’s Congress. Berenson was sentenced to life by a secret military court for “treason against the fatherland,” but that conviction was vacated in 2000 and she was retried and convicted the following year by a civilian court.

There is no doubt that Lori Berenson collaborated with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.  The Tupac Amaru rebels viewed her as an emissary and friend when she arrived in Peru in her twenties in 1994 after serving as a personal aide to a top leader of El Salvador’s Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).

She and Panamanian painter Pacífico Castrellón — a key prosecution witness against her — did rent the four- story house that the Tupac Amaru rebels used as their secret base to store a huge arsenal of weapons and house 20 guerrillas. Three Tupac Amaru guerrillas and one policeman died during the 11-hour shootout at that house.

Castrellón returned home to Panama last month after serving 11½ years in a Lima prison and three more years on conditional release.

Clearly Lori Berenson does not have Peruvian public sentiment on her side. She may never erase from the country’s collective  memory her Jan. 8, 1996, appearance before television cameras, when she made her now famous declaration in defense of the guerrilla group. With fists clenched at her sides, her face contorted in anger, she shouted: “There are no criminal terrorists in the MRTA. It is a revolutionary movement.”

In a recent national poll, 74 percent said they opposed her parole, and 73 percent said they did not believe she was repentant for her crimes. But asked if her sentence should be commuted and she should be allowed to go home, 50 percent said yes, 43 percent said no, and 7 percent offered no opinion.

Peruvians found it offensive when Berenson described herself as a political prisoner. But who can deny the mileage Peru’s political class has gotten, and continues to get, as she  is transformed into a latter day Peruvian Willy Horton?

Lori Berenson is not innocent, but who can deny that she has paid a significant debt to Peruvian society? Who can deny that her toddler, who was born in prison and took his first visit to a park and saw his first tree when he was eight months old, is innocent?

Lori Berenson and her baby pose no threat to Peruvian society. Don’t free Lori Berenson. Free Lori Berenson and her baby son.

Apoyo Opinión y Mercado national poll on Lori Berenson:

National poll conducted by Apoyo Opinión y Mercado S.A., published by Diario El Comercio on June 20, 2010. Poll based on interviews from June 16-18 with 1,200 people between the ages of 18 and 70. Margin of error +/-2.8 percentage points in provincial cities and +/-4.4 percentage points in Lima.

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